WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 12, 2018—The House Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2019 spending bill late last night including a $1.25 billion funding increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a $171 million funding boost for the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The bill preserves current funding levels for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cancer screening and early detection programs and for the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH), which provides funding for programs that help prevent youth from starting to use tobacco and helps adult tobacco users to quit.
A statement from American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) President Chris Hansen follows:
“ACS CAN appreciates the hard work and dedication of Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) and Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) to increase cancer research funding through the NIH and to protect cancer prevention efforts through level funding for the CDC and OSH. This is the fourth straight year the committee has included an increase for the NIH in the bill. This $1.25 billion NIH increase demonstrates the strong bipartisan commitment to continued scientific development against a disease that will claim the lives of more than 600,000 Americans this year.
“When combined with prevention and early detection, research can significantly reduce cancer incidence and death. We commend Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) for acknowledging the funding dedicated for NIH in the House bill should be a floor not a ceiling, and to Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn) for her continued commitment to such critical funding.
“ACS CAN urges Congress to include the higher $2 billion increase for medical research included in the Senate version of the spending bill, so the NIH and NCI have robust funding to maximize discovery in cancer prevention, detection and innovative new treatments against this disease.”
